My name is Deborah Camp and I’m a Queens, NY based freelance mural artist, art educator and author. Friends of MacDonald Park and I are excited to bring the arts to 6 walls in the circular area of MacDonald Park in Forest Hills, NY in Spring 2026 to raise awareness about the direct connection between the arts and our overall well-being. Public mural art provides an oasis for people of all walks of life to improve their mental and physical health by helping visitors of the mural to unwind and decompress from their hectic days by immersing themselves into the piece as an escape from their daily grind and into a fantastical world painted on the wall. My mural concept was approved by the NYC Parks Department for the NYC Parks’ Art in the Parks program for MacDonald Park which is for temporary art installations to be on display for a year.
It will be a 6-piece mural titled “Forest Hills Planting the Seeds of Tomorrow” that will beautify the outdoor circular space and add visual interest to the Forest Hills community by transforming it from blank walls that have attracted graffiti tags in the past to colorful, intricate wall murals that visually narrate a cohesive and meaningful story with multiple messages of optimism, hope, community unity and nurturing our planet and each other with care depicted in an inclusive way to celebrate everyone across all socioeconomic, generational and cultural backgrounds via silhouettes so that the viewer can identify with one of them and see themselves within the mural.
The mural will also serve as a therapeutic and engaging interactive educational tool and be utilized for class trips for children from nursery school to high school, staff of local schools, daycares, nursing homes, hospitals and visitors by hosting art workshops and discussions around the mural within the space afterwards to inspire creative thinking and problem solving that can be applied in their lives to improve mental health well-being.
We couldn’t do the work we do without the help of generous people like you. Your donations will be supporting our initiative of gathering the supplies needed to paint the mural in order to serve our community as a free space for people to experience public art and art workshops, instead of families needing to venture far and pay for travel and admission costs to experience a museum and art program, especially if the family is experiencing financial struggles. The experience of viewing art should be accessible to everybody. These pieces will provide a memorable experience of seeing a large local piece created by a local Queens resident that they can visit anytime to seek comfort and inspiration. The mural’s total length is 66 feet and it stands at just under 3 feet and is at eye level for children to pose with which allows them to actively experience the mural from their point of view. MacDonald Park is well maintained with continual daily upkeep therefore the murals will also be upkept and in prime condition year-round.
The vision that we have for the mural is to transform the plain wall space within MacDonald Park into an inspirational and vibrant central community gathering hub that will attract people of all walks of life to socialize, relax, have lunch, business meetings and make new friends and connections within an artistic environment in the diverse community of Forest Hills, Queens, NY. The mural will also bring interactive elements visually narrated in the 6-piece mural for families and caregivers to engage in to make memories together by sparking a creative discussion with their children and students and inspire them to discover their inner artist and use the mural as a learning tool to count, identify shapes and express their feelings. The mural will become a public destination for families to visit and draw people from multiple places to unite to interact with the murals by taking pictures posing with their families. More people will learn about the park and come to visit it and the surrounding businesses within Forest Hills thus increasing pedestrian traffic which will contribute to a boost in local commerce for the surrounding shops of Forest Hills.
In addition to our gofundme campaign, we are also seeking to secure a combination of artist grant opportunities that we can utilize to help cover the costs to create it and local businesses and organizations that want to help sponsor our mural that align with our vision for the park of creating a vibrant space to celebrate the arts, Queens, mental health and education.
These are links of my portfolio, articles written about the upcoming mural in the Forest Hills Times, articles written about the active role Friends of MacDonald Park plays in maintaining their space, my work in the Queens community, podcasts where I have been featured on discussing the impact of the arts on mental health and my book. Thank you for your support of the public arts for our community!
Sincerely,
Deborah Camp
Mural Artist of “Forest Hills Planting the Seeds of Tomorrow”
Organizer
Deborah Camp (Organizer)
Organizer
Woodhaven, NY